Christmas comes to your kitchen early

I can hardly believe we’re well into October already and Thanksgiving dinner is just around the corner. This means it’s time I take stock of my kitchen cupboards to make sure I have all my necessary baking and cooking ingredients since I always host the family turkey dinner.

On top of checking the cupboards for ingredients I like to make sure I have the right cooking appliances and such to prepare and serve my turkey dinner. I usually serve at least 10 adults and 4 kids and who doesn’t want leftovers for delicious turkey sandwiches so it’s quite a large spread that I create. It can get tricky juggling the stove top burners and the room in the oven but there are some great kitchen appliances that will help you manage all those dishes you need to bake and cook. Hosting a large dinner for family and friends is a great excuse to have Christmas come a little early and treat yourself to some new and modern kitchen appliances to ease your cooking woes.

A mixing must have

A stand mixer is awesome to have because you can add in your ingredients, turn it on and let it mix and still have your hands free to do something else. I love using it to mix up my pumpkin pie filling, whip the cream, mix my cake mixes and more.

Kitchen Aid has a large variety of stand mixers to choose from as well as a huge range of colours to perfectly match your current kitchen décor. This KitchenAid Artisan Stand Mixer in red is absolutely gorgeous. Red is my go to colour for my kitchen but you can pretty much find any colour that works best in your kitchen. The Tilt-Head on the mixer makes it easy to add your ingredients without having to take the bowl in and out of the stand. There’s also 10 speeds to choose from and a massive 4.73L stainless steel mixing bowl which is plenty big enough to prepare large batches of whatever you’re mixing up. It comes with a coated flat beater, a coated dough hook, a 6-wire whip, and 1-piece pouring shield. There’s also some great attachments you can purchase to expand the use of your mixer.

A crockpot

A crockpot is a great alternative cooking vessel for some dishes but it’s also perfect to have on hand to keep some of your dishes warm until serving time. You can pre cook your veggies or mash your potatoes and then keep them warm in the crockpot.

Crockpots come in a variety of sizes but I love to have one large enough for big batch cooking like spaghetti sauce or chilli or to cook a roast in. This Crock-Pot Countdown Digital Slow Cooker will come in handy to cook some extra stuffing in this Thanksgiving and Christmas and will make your busy days easier by having your dinner ready for you when you get home. Of course the best thing about a crockpot is the ability to throw in a bunch of ingredients, turn it on, leave for the day and come home to dinner made and ready to serve.

A roasting pan

You can’t cook the perfect turkey dinner without an amazing roasting pan, and if you cook roasted potatoes then you’ll need one for them too. I got so sick of having to replace my cheap roasting pan each year and finally invested in a decent one and it’s lasted a few years already.

This Cuisinart 17″ x 13″ Open Roasting Pan is 17”X13” will easily fit a large turkey or roast. Both the pan and the rack are non stick and the handles are sturdy and designed to make lifting the pan out of the oven easy.

With Thanksgiving here already (can you believe it) and Christmas not far behind it’s time to check your cupboards to see what kitchen appliance you’re missing to make cooking a large feast easier.

You can find some great kitchen appliances to treat yourself to at bestbuy.ca.

Main image @ www.cooking.nytimes.com.